Ohio-based Marathon Petroleum Corp.‘s midstream master limited partnership (MLP), MPLX LP, closed a $220 million oil pipeline acquisition and separately received a $2 billion dropdown of oil terminal, pipeline and storage assets from Marathon. The newly acquired assets include 62 light-product terminals with approximately 24 million bbls of storage capacity, 11 pipeline systems totaling 604 miles, 73 tanks with about 7.8 million bbls of storage capacity, a crude oil truck unloading facility at Marathon’s Canton, OH, refinery, and eight natural gas liquids storage caverns with about 1.8 million bbls of capacity in Woodhaven, MI. Meanwhile, the pipeline purchase closure was for Enbridge Pipelines LLC‘s Ozark line, a 433-mile 22-inch diameter crude pipeline originating at the oil hub in Cushing, OK, and terminating in Wood River, IL. Ozark has a capacity of 230,000 b/d, which MPLX is planning to expand to 345,000 b/d by 2Q2018.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has launched an iPad application for electronic field inspections at oil and natural gas well sites. The app replaces clipboards and paper forms and will make the inspection process more accurate and efficient, according to DEP. The app allows agency staff to conduct better inspections of surface activities at oil and gas sites and improve data collection for erosion and sedimentation, waterways encroachment, waste management and spill cleanup. The number of field inspections that DEP staff can perform yearly will also increase. The agency is developing a similar app for its oil and gas subsurface inspectors. While the DEP has been working to update its technologies and processes for years, the new technology supports the Governor’s Office of Transformation, Innovation, Management and Efficiency, a collaborative initiative across state government aimed at modernizing operations, reducing costs and improving services.